Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 to ask for monthly fee

Console games are expensive, with leading titles often selling for £40-£45 in the UK. The latest news to reach us today is that the publisher behind Call Of Duty will be wanting to charge a monthly fee for online gaming services.

Activision Blizzard will be under fire for their plans to launch an online service called ‘Call Of Duty Elite' which will work with Modern Warfare 3. Industry executives are calling this move ‘a first' because Activision plan to charge a monthly subscription fee for the service which will provide extra content that isn't offered on game discs sold in stores, including new downloadable map packs that gives players new ‘Call Of Duty' levels to play.

Activision executives have not yet given costs and charges for the service but it is expected that the fees will be less than £5 a month. Portions of the service will be free, including features inspired by Facebook.

Other features of this service will give player tools, much like stock analysis software, to analysis performance statistics. Details such as kill ratios, weapons used etc will be listed.

Activision will be seen as wanting to milk more money from consumers, for one of the biggest selling game franchises of all time. Charging a subscription fee is more common place for MMORPG titles, but this is a first for a FPS. World Of Warcraft has over 11 million subscribers who pay around £10 a month for the services.

Fees for the new Call Of Duty Elite subscriptions on the Xbox 360 are said to be added to the Xbox Live general fees which is sure to be very unpopular. If you don't subscribe, there will still be online support but it will be likely limited in content and options.

The previous title Black Ops was one of the best selling games in recent years, with retail sales over $1 billion during the first six weeks on sale. If they can get more money from subscription fees they could indeed break this record with the upcoming game release, due to arrive in stores on November 8th.

KitGuru says: Will this be seen as a negative move by the publishers? We think so.

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